SCB Steelers Quick Hitters: The “Murphy’s Law” Edition

Good Monday to you Steelers fans.

After winning their first 11, the Pittsburgh Steelers have lost two straight. The same issues that have haunted this team in recent weeks reared their ugly head again. Injuries, dropped passes and a poor running game were among the reasons the Steelers lost to Buffalo last night 26-15. If ever a team fit “Murphy’s Law” it’s this one right now. On to my good and bad from the game.

The Good

-The defense played a whale of a first half. With no Vince Williams, Robert Spillane or Joe Haden they did a great job of frustrating Josh Allen and slowing down the running game.

-Really good route and really good throw on James Washington’s TD from Ben Roethlisberger.

-Cam Heyward may sadly go down as one of the truly great Steelers who never got to a Super Bowl. So many guys from our great history were part of Super Bowl teams but there are some who never made the ultimate game. Heyward deserves better. He’s been a consistently great player for ten years.

-Jordan Berry was pretty solid. Punting that often isn’t something I want to see though.

-Good to see JuJu in the end zone but it was also good to see the Steelers utilize a little rub or ‘pick play’ to get him open. They need to do that more often especially as teams do that to us constantly.

Tweet of the Day… No, no, no… We are not doing this again Ben. If this is how you really feel then walk away. Love you to death man but the pity party again isn’t going to cut it.

"If I don't play good enough football, I need to hang it up" — Ben Roethlisberger.

— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) December 14, 2020

The Bad

-What in the hell was that at the end of the half? :52 left and two timeouts and we sit on it? That’s playing scared and playing to lose.

-Stefan Diggs exposed both Steven Nelson and Cam Sutton. They were both left on islands throughout the night and when our pressure wasn’t getting home they were toast.

-I don’t see the running game developing this season. It’s too far gone. There’s no urgency. No nastiness. It’s pass block or bust for this group.

-Diontae Johnson rebounded a bit after his opening two drops but I don’t know how much longer Mike Tomlin can roll with him. He’s like a golfer who can’t make a two-foot putt to save his life.

-Eric Ebron may go down as one of Kevin Colbert’s more unwise signings. He has not met expectations, drops too many balls and needs to stay off social media.

-No team offensively has less creativity and no team uses its personnel as poorly as the Steelers. For those things alone Randy Fichtner should not be back in 2021.

-Both Matt Feiler and Kevin Dotson left the game with pectoral issues. Rarely are those minor but I’ll remain hopeful.

-Regardless of how this ultimately ends, O-Line Coach Shaun Sarrett is likely gone. His unit has regressed since he took over for Mike Munchak.

-I firmly believe last night cemented James Conner’s future. He either returns to Pittsburgh on a very team-friendly salary or he goes elsewhere. I do not want to discount the fact he was coming back from Covid, but he was a total non-factor on a night when he had to be better.

-Big Ben looks tired to me. His throws lack zip and his deep ball gets worse every week. The pick-six was about as poorly thrown of a ball as you could have there.

Looking Ahead

The Steelers get a much needed extra day as they will play in Cincinnati on Monday night. The Bengals could very well be using a third string QB as Brandon Allen left the game against Dallas early yesterday. This is a must-win game for numerous reasons, regaining confidence most of all, but much will depend on the outcome of tonight’s Cleveland-Baltimore tilt as well. If Pittsburgh can’t win in Cincinnati, where they’ve consistently won for years, then our playoff fortunes will be short-lived.